Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hope is an important thing in the Christian tradition, and in the Christian way of life. Paul, writing to the Romans, wanted them to understand and to get the power of hope for their lives in the faith. Sometimes the best way to communicate how important something is is not to write about it, but just to keep using the word. It's a pretty good clue for readers that it is important. So Paul uses the word hope twice in this brief sentence. Hope is used as a basic descriptor of who God is. As you might say "Pastor Seth the bearded," Paul says "the God of hope." Hope is that central and basic to what God is about in the world. And Paul wishes that his readers would "abound in hope." So God is a God of hope and we are to abound in hope. The life of faith is about walking in hope and trusting in the God of hope.
Trust in hope. Walk in hope. Live in hope. Be in hope. Abound in hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. The God of hope. Hope.
In Christ (and hope),
Pastor Seth
For conversation, visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot.com/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I count on the God of Hope on a daily basis. This would be the defining point of my faith. This God is what keeps me going and gets me through.
ReplyDeleteSo, Pastor Seth, the bearded, is your beard that central and basic to who you are in the world? If you were to shave, would there be no hope for you? :)
ReplyDeleteHope is basic and central to life. But how do you explain hope to an 7 year old who hasn't had it ingrained in them from day one? How do explain to someone HOW to just trust God?
ReplyDeleteAdrienne
Adrienne,
ReplyDeleteI think the best explanations are non-verbal. Show your life of hope. Try to demonstrate hope. Teach hope, yes, but I think it's more important to live hope. Which, of course, is easier said than done. To a 7-year-old, too, you can often engender circumstances to have hope rewarded. (Encourage them to hope for an extra hug or a slightly later bedtime or ... that you were planning on providing anyway. It helps reinforce the power of hope. And at 7, you can start putting time between the hope and the reward to start the lesson that sometimes patience has to accompany hope. WARNING -- amateur psychologist only -- take all advice with several grains of salt.)
On a less serious note, I was disappointed the note wasn't signed "Pastor Seth, the bearded". That would have been appropriate, I think. Though I'm like John -- I don't find it central to my understanding of Seth Moland-Kovash the same way I find hope central to my understanding of God. Definitely caught my attention, though, which was it's purpose, I'm certain.
Doug
Adrienne, I would say, like Doug, that you don't tell someone how to hope. You show hope. You demonstrate hope. Just like you show and demonstrate unconditional love and grace and all the good stuff of life. Most of the good stuff of life can't really be talked about, but it can be lived. And you do it over time. You teach that little girl about hope by showing her hope and showing her reason to hope every day. It takes time, but it's the only way. And you are doing it.
ReplyDeleteAnd to Doug and John, clearly you've underestimated my beard. I am a lot like Samson: it's the source of my power. Were I to shave, I could not in fact be Pastor Seth. Because I'd look too much like a 12-year old boy.
Pastor Seth
I see I missed much discussion yesterday!
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, this very subject was the topic of an afternoon conversation in my office yesterday. I agree with Doug and Seth that constant demonstrations are key in teaching the reality of an unseen loving trustworthy God. What we found in the afternoon conversation yesterday was that words in the form of storytelling can be another way of sharing your knowledge and experience of hope in your life/lives.
A few children's books come to mind that tell the story of unconditional love and trust...The Runaway Bunny, Mama Do You Love Me, You Are My I Love You. Reading stories such as these, you can then use the story to move you to conversation about God.
I dunno, Seth, looking like a twelve-year-old boy has worked for 2009 Cy Young winner-to-be Zack Greinke and perpetually-overrated Craig Counsell. Then again, I'm good at underestimating the importance of personal appearance.
ReplyDeleteTo Lynn's list of books, I would add The Giving Tree and I'll Love You Forever. They do help teach concepts that are hard to define/teach, at least for those of us who learn from bearded twelve-year-olds. :)
Doug